Unveiling the Official President Bush Portrait - Speech by President Obama 2012
Brilliant and kind speech by President Obama - This is how it's done.
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama host former President George W. Bush and Former First Lady Laura Bush for the unveiling of their official portraits. May 31, 2012.
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Since POTUS is such an exclusive club, in our history it was common for new presidents to call on previous presidents for help and advice. LBJ called on Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter only had Ford and Nixon, but found his former opponent very helpful in dealing with Congress and Carter was called on for diplomatic missions by both George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations.
I was no fan of George W Bush*, either. When he inexplicably won in 2004 I felt ill for days. I remember here on DU that GD and GDP here on DU were changed to two helpful forums, one for sounding off and expressing anger and the other for receiving sympathy and support. I mainly accessed the latter.
But compared to Trump, any POTUS looks good. And President Obama is a class act, there was nothing to be gained by expressing hostility to the Bushes and a POTUS never knows when he might need information or advice. Can we imagine Trump in this cordial lineup? It would be a case of "Which one doesn't belong..." 
I agree that we've had some great and not-so-great presidents, some that stepped up to the plate when things got tough and others that history will not judge kindly. But they've all participated whether we agreed with them, or not, but Trump didn't want the job, had no intention of doing the immense work that's required, he just liked the ceremonial aspect, the applause of rallies and the campaign contributions that rolled in. He liked telling people what to do, but when it's come to the tough decisions, keeping up with world issues and searching for and appointing the best minds in this country, he just has no interest. Do we even have a full complement of ambassadors at this late date??
So far we've been lucky, there was no Cuban Missile Crisis or Pearl Harbor attack on his watch. But then this pandemic hit and he chose to ignore it, the same as he ignores the daily PDBs that keep a POTUS informed and is totally unprepared when it comes to international summits - which has earned him the disrespect of the world.
That anyone at all cannot see this and can continue to support a man who has let this country down on every possible opportunity totally boggles the mind. He's resided in The People's House - when he's felt like it - but that's about it. He deserved to be removed long ago and history will not judge those kindly who allowed him to remain when we had the chance. I fear for our future and it's going to take more than one term to undo all the harm he has done. It's going to take decades.
We've had great and not-so-great presidents over the years, but they've always done the job. All Trump has done is hold rallies and pocket campaign contributions - leaving debt in the cities where he's held these rallies in his wake. He doesn't even go so far as to read the daily PDB. He's of no use to this country and might as well remain on the golf course for all the work he's done for the American people.
That does seem to be just about all he cares about - golf and his golf courses. Maybe if he'd stuck to that alone, he wouldn't have gone bankrupt numerous times - and this country wouldn't be in the shape it's in now. I still contend that the only reason he ran for president was because he'd run out of other options to make money - and he thought he'd get campaign contributions, but never had any intention of doing the actual job...
